King Raven
Background/Structure The King Raven is an all around air-transport vehicle. It resembles a "MIL-MI 24 HIND/UH-60 Blackhawk. Without a tail rotor, it is unknown how it prevents the helicopter from spinning out of control. Unusally, this helicopter has no tail rotor. Instead it has two counter-rotating six bladed centrally mounted rotors, similar to the Russian Ka-50. The Raven's armor plating is only somewhat dense, but can take a beating from small arms fire. However, the Raven's armor cannot take an explosive attack and can be instantly destroyed by oncoming Nemacyst, as seen in several cutscenes. The Raven has no doors, and can cause severe nausea for some of the passengers. A star example is Cole when he commented that he pukes every time he sets foot in one. Function Ravens are used to insert and extract Gears during combat. The Raven can carry up to 12 Gears along with a pilot. Besides being a transportation asset, they are also used as air support to provide suppressing fire for soldiers on the ground. Armaments The standard Raven contains a frontal armament as well as side armaments. They are all machine gun style weapons, firing multiple rounds at enemies. More specifically, the Raven has two side-mounted Chain Guns for point defense as well as the guns in the front for oncoming attacks. The front gun is seen used in Act 4 when the Raven carrying Delta Team fired on a barrage of attacking Nemacyst. The side guns are seen used in Pale Horse to provide covering fire against the Reavers while Marcus and Dom confront General RAAM.A UV turret is also used against the kryll surrounding General RAAM during Pale Horse but is used only briefly in the cutscene. Appearances Gears of War The King Raven will appear in the game several time in Act 1, at the beginning of Act 4, and at the end of Act 5. There are several in the chapter 14 Years After E-Day, one in Trial By Fire, and one destroyed in the ending cinematic of Wrath. There is also a Raven inserting Delta Squad into one of the courtyards of East Barricade Academy at the beginning of Act 4. The other Raven in Act 4 is seen later when the chapter Campus Grinder is completed. The final Raven is ridden by Baird, Cole, and Hoffman in the Act 5 chapter, Pale Horse during the RAAM boss fight. They are there to provide covering fire against the numerous Reavers flying near the head of the Tyro Pillar while Dom and Marcus were confronting RAAM. Gears of War 2 There were scenes from the promotional video of Gears of War 2 that showed clearly that the King Raven will definitely be returning for the second game. The video contains gameplay, and opens with three King Ravens following two large Derricks and providing support. They can also be seen exploding, after an attack from several Nemacyst. Trivia *A stationary Raven helicopter is seen on a heli-pad in the multiplayer map, Rooftops and another one is seen on a Heli-pad in the map, Fuel Depot *In Act 1, one of the King Raven helicopters is shot down by an unknown weapon. The weapon that is fired cannot be seen at the source, but the projectile looks almost like a laser particle beam. Category:Vehicles